Pope John Paul considered quitting in 2000 reveals aide

Tuesday 23 January 2007 00:22 BST

Due to fading health Pope John Paul considered resigning in 2000 writes Dziwisz

The late Pope John Paul seriously considered resigning in 2000 because of poor health and also mulled changing Church law so popes would bow out at age 80 and not rule for life, his ex-secretary discloses in a new book.

Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, the pope's private secretary for 40 years, also restates his conviction that the Soviet Union was behind the assassination attempt on the pontiff in 1981 because he was seen as a threat to its power.

In 'A Life with Karol', Dziwisz recalled many of John Paul's human sides, including how after visiting Mother Teresa's home for the dying in Calcutta he was so distraught he told her: "If I could, I would do my work as pope from here".

Dziwisz writes that John Paul considered resigning in 2000, when, in fading health, he led the one billion-member Church into the new millennium. He discussed it with close advisers, including then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict.

"He came to the conclusion that he had to submit himself to God's will, that is, to remain (in office) as long as God wanted," he writes in the book co-authored with Italian writer Gianfranco Svidercoschi and published by Rizzoli.

John Paul considered expanding Church legislation that says cardinals cannot enter a conclave to elect a new pontiff after they turn 80 and "asked himself ... if even the pope should resign from the post at age 80".

Dziwisz disclosed that as his health declined, John Paul set up "a specific procedure to hand in his resignation in case he would not be able to carry out his ministry as pope to the end".

The words by Dziwisz, who was like a son to the pope, were the clearest statement yet that John Paul had indeed considered resigning as Parkinson's disease and other ailments took their toll, affecting his speech and ability to walk.

The last pope to resign willingly was Celestine V, who stepped down in 1294.

Gregory XII reluctantly abdicated in 1415 when more than one Pope was reigning at the same time.

In another part of the book Dziwisz recalls May 13, 1981, the day Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Agca shot the Pope while his open jeep was being driven through St Peter's Square at the start of a weekly general audience.

"Agca was a perfect killer," writes Dziwisz, who was riding in the jeep at the time.

"He was sent by those who thought the pope was dangerous, inconvenient, by those who feared him..."

At the time of the shooting, events in the Pope's Polish homeland were starting a domino effect which eventually led to the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe in 1989.

The Pope was a staunch supporter of Poland's Solidarity union and most historians agree he played a vital role in events that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall.

"How could one not have thought of the communist world (being behind the plot)... you have to take into consideration all the elements of that scenario: the election of a pope hated by the Kremlin, his first trip back to his homeland (as Pope in 1979), the explosion of the Solidarity union (in 1980)."

"Doesn't everything lead in that direction? Don't the paths, even if they are different, lead to the KGB?"

Moscow has denied involvement in the assassination attempt.

Last year, a report by an Italian parliamentary investigative commission said the leaders of the former Soviet Union were behind the plot and that Agca, a Turk now serving life in prison in his native country, did not act alone.

In a chapter called 'The Last Hours', Dziwisz recalls John Paul's final moments on April 2, 2005, at the end of a 10-year battle with a host of ailments.

"It was 9:27 p.m. We noticed that the Holy Father stopped breathing... some people stopped the hands of their watches at that hour".